The ruins of the ancient city stood silently in the wind. The dust in the wasteland was swept away by the wind, whistling between the twisted and weathered buildings and rusted pipelines and steel beams. In the center of the ruins of the former Mana Hub, a large piece of flesh seemed to have been gouged out of the earth, leaving only a deep black pit embedded in the cracked earth. A cluster of light was slowly surging at the bottom of the pit. Deep in the light was the space outlined by the dark blue network.
It was a massive power system that existed parallel to the entire planet. It was the "internal circulation network" formed by the planet in the magical environment of the universe. The mortals of this era knew little about it, but in the eyes of Firna and Rayna, this massive and mysterious dark blue network was not much of a secret.
A muffled murmur came along with the wind. Firna looked up and saw two aberrations that looked like flesh giants appearing at the edge of the pit. They staggered, and the dark red "mud" on their bodies swelled and squirmed in a disturbing manner. Their bodies trembled slightly every few seconds. These monsters of Chaos, who lacked intelligence, seemed to still be resisting the control of an external will, but their resistance was obviously futile.
A treant with dark brown twisted branches stood beside the two monsters. His treetop was twisted and tangled, and the dry branches entangled into a structure that resembled a brain. There were constantly flashing light spots wandering in the "brain" that was full of gullies. A strong spiritual pulse was released, suppressing the instinctive resistance of the two aberrations.
"… What ugly things." Firna turned around and said casually. Although she said something disgusting, her expression was extraordinarily calm.
"Get the runestones ready!" Another Ent shouted from nearby. Then, the intertwined roots around the crater began to wriggle. A moment later, a huge black cube was transported to the crater by the wriggling vines and roots. It was then transported to the front of the two Aberrations who were being controlled.
It was a pitch-black stone about two meters long. It had a rather regular shape and a faint metallic luster. It seemed to be made of a variety of magical materials that had been processed in a complex manner. Inside each side of the cube, there were faint glowing runes that constantly appeared and changed. The turbulent magic power in the wasteland interacted with those runes from time to time. Every moment, there were lines of light and shadow emanating from the top of the cube and gradually dissipating into the depths of the stone.
If outsiders saw it, it would be hard to believe that such a sophisticated thing was "produced" in the wasteland.
But even so, the twin fairies were still not satisfied with this' runestone '. Layna stared at the huge cube for a long time before shaking her head and sighing. "Sigh, it's crudely made."
"As long as it's enough." Firna smiled. "It's not easy for them to produce such a device in such an environment."
As they spoke, the transfer of the runestones was completed. The two hideous aberrations picked up the huge black cube from the wriggling vines. The thing was so heavy that even the aberrations had to work together to hold it firmly. Then, the treant standing at the edge of the pit gave an order. The two aberrations trembled slightly at the same time. They let out a soundless roar and finally took heavy steps towards the "door" at the bottom of the pit.
At that very moment, even the Elven Twins who had always appeared relaxed and aloof could not help but turn their attention to the 'runic stone'. Their gazes closely followed the two aberrations that were slowly walking towards the 'door', as well as the black cube-shaped boulder that had runes constantly flowing within it. They watched as that thing slowly approached the bottom of the crater, and watched as the blue radiance from the dark-blue net shone through the door, illuminating the surface of the runic stone.
The next moment, the heavy black cube seemed to come to life. All the runes inside it shone brightly at the same time. Countless previously hidden lines flashed and connected. Dozens of complex magic arrays were activated and reassembled in a thousandth of a second. The air crackled as the pure energy in the dark blue net seemed to have broken the balance structure near the "door". With a flash of dazzling sparks, the two aberrations responsible for transporting the runestones instantly turned into bright torches and burned to ashes.
But the activated runestone fell into the deepest part of the crater, into the space where the Dark Blue Net was. Ripples spread out on the surface of the 'door'. In the shaking light and shadow, the surrounding Ents could only see the magical device that they had painstakingly created flashing and falling into a stream of light. In the blink of an eye, it disappeared without a trace.
Rayna looked up and looked at Borken, who was also staring at the bottom of the pit. She smiled and said, "The runestones have been placed, Great Patriarch."
"… Very good. Including the previous experimental one, we now have two control nodes." Borken was silent for a moment before he spoke in a low and hoarse voice. "We still have a hundred to place."
"Everything is difficult at the beginning, Your Excellency," Firna said with a smile. "We have now collected enough data and tested a new way to open the door. The next step is to place the runestones — of course, I mean inside the wasteland."
"Yes … inside the wasteland … but the nodes we need to control are not just inside this damn high wall." Borken's tawny eyes stared at the twin elves in front of him. "We need to make sure that at least 70% of the runestones can work, and we can only find less than half of the nodes in the wasteland. You know what I mean."
"Of course, you will have a chance, but for that chance, you still need to accumulate some strength," Rayna said faintly. "As for now, our main goal is to place all the controllable nodes in the Great Wall with runestones. This way, no matter whether the operation goes smoothly or not, we will have a huge force to turn the situation around."
Borken looked at the "elves" in front of him for a long time before he said in a low voice, "I hope everything is as easy as you say."
…
The cold wind of the polar region slapped against the thick high walls of the city. Under the starlight, the adventurer camp was brightly lit. The team that had completed the mission was heading to the management center to calculate the reward and 'promotion points' for their hard work. The construction team in charge of expanding the camp was crossing the main road. The construction vehicles that were shipped directly from the Roren Continent rolled over the road. The roar of the magical engine mixed with the voices of the people on the streets. It was a sound that rang every day in the newly built town. Modir had been living here for so long that he had long gotten used to it.
"This is a wonderful place," the great adventurer said to Gwen as he sat by the window of his hut. "This land is desolate. You can even say that stepping out of the city gate is a dangerous place. There are all kinds of dangerous things in the wasteland. Survival is the number one challenge that everyone has to face. But on the other hand, these shelters built on the wasteland are full of vitality. They are even more 'alive' than many cities of the same size on the Roren Continent. People have poured all their hopes for survival, the future, and peace into these strong walls. They have walked out of here time and time again, trying to take back their civilization from the wilderness … Every time I think of this, I am greatly touched. "
"But in fact, most of the people who touched you came here to make a fortune. Some of them are here because of the Alliance's mission," Amber said casually as she fiddled with a cyclone of shadow dust. "Other than the volunteers from the Dukedom of Holy Dragon and some of the reinforcements, the only ones who really care about the 'civilization' and the 'future' are the dragons who were born and raised in Tarlonde. This is their hometown, not someone else's."
The great adventurer laughed and shook his head slightly. "If a cause is great and full of glory, and countless people have made great sacrifices for it, then why should we delve into whether every name behind this cause is a flawless' saint '? In my opinion, these people have come here from afar, risking their lives to expand the boundaries of the safe zone, rebuild the cities and factories, and a glorious civilization has the hope of rising again because of them. So no matter what their motive is, they should have a place in history. "
Gwen looked at Modir with some surprise. "I thought you were just keen on adventure. I didn't expect you to have so many deep thoughts."
"It's my honor to be praised by you," Modir immediately said, and then scratched his messy white hair. "These are not very deep thoughts. It's just that after living here for a while, I have some new understanding of these adventurers and their way of life … I have recorded my experience here in a notebook that I always carry with me. I am going to give it to someone I trust when I leave. So even if one day I forget what happened here, the things I have witnessed and thought can be passed down …"
"A wise move. But if everything goes well, you may not need this arrangement." Gwen smiled and turned to look at Amber. "How's the preparation?"
Amber raised her finger and shook it in the air. Sand and dust danced around her fingertips as if they were alive. "It's ready."
Gwen nodded and looked at Victoria, who sat next to him and did not speak. The latter looked up almost at the same time. Her usually cold face could not help but show some worry. "Is Amber's method really effective?"
"Let me tell you this. I can't guarantee that I can cut off the connection between your ancestor and the Mistress of the Night's divine kingdom. After all, that thing involves the gods. I can't just steal some sand from the Mistress of the Night to deal with it. But I can guarantee that at least things won't get worse. And theoretically, I can at least stabilize the body of this great adventurer to a certain extent. Even if he still slips' that way ', the process will be greatly prolonged. So at least we have a chance to breathe, right?"
Now that things had come to this, Amber didn't make random promises like she usually did. Instead, she bluntly stated the limitations of her abilities and the possible unsatisfactory consequences. Her straightforward "explanation" didn't make Victoria feel suspicious at all. Instead, it made the ruler of the Northern Territory inexplicably heave a sigh of relief.
A cautious promise was much more reliable than a deluge of self-praise, especially since it was Miss Amber who spoke. Victoria understood this Minister of Intelligence very well. There was a standard among the upper echelons of the Empire for judging: When Amber casually assured you that "this is a done deal," you would have to start considering the consequences of messing things up. But when she cautiously expressed that she only had a fifty percent chance of success, it meant that she really had a fifty percent chance of success.
Gwen's eyes swept across Victoria and Modir, and finally fell on Amber. He sighed softly, nodded to her and said, "Then let's begin."
Amber nodded. With the experience of letting Modir 'cooperate' last time, she did not waste any more words this time. She quietly activated her ability to perceive and control the shadowy sand. In a flash, Modir Werde once again changed into a strange appearance with half of his body made up of flowing sand …
Gwen and Victoria nervously watched all this, but they could not see the 'truth' that only Amber could perceive. In their eyes, Amber just stood quietly beside Modir, raised her hand and placed it in the air beside the old mage. Some faintly discernible grayish-white sand swirled around Modir like a swirling fog. The whole process lasted for a few minutes, and no one could see the mystery behind it.
If it were not for the fact that they already had a certain degree of understanding of each other, and if it were just based on the impression they had when they first met, Gwen would definitely suspect that the Shadowy Assault Goose had used a bunch of light and shadow effects to fool him, just to trick Victoria into drinking wine …
At this moment, Amber suddenly withdrew her hand, and the shadowy sand in the air disappeared. She clapped her hands and exhaled, a smile on her face, and said, "Okay, it's done."
"That's it again?" The first to speak was the party involved, Modir. He still did not feel any change in his body. He just looked at Amber, who seemed to have exerted a lot of energy, and then looked down at his own body. "I still don't feel anything …"
"You won't feel anything, just like how you didn't feel anything wrong with your body in the past six centuries. The power of the 'mutation' has completely become a part of your life, as inseparable as your breathing and heartbeat. Of course, I've taken this into consideration when I 'manipulated' you, so you definitely won't feel anything." Amber looked at the great adventurer, and explained with an 'I know everything' look on her face. "If you really feel something abnormal in your body, then it's really bad."
Hearing Amber's words, Modir was a little nervous. "… What if I feel something abnormal in my body?"
Amber blurted out almost without thinking. "I'll hug Victoria's leg and ask her to go easy on you. It's best if she gives me another chance …"
Modir, "…?"
"Don't mind her, she's always like that." Gwen looked at Amber's blabbering and knew that her manipulation must have been successful. He breathed a sigh of relief, and at the same time, a smile appeared on his face. "Get up and move a little. Make sure you're not feeling any discomfort, and then we'll continue to talk about your body."
"Well, I feel pretty good …" Modir nodded. As he spoke, he stood up and moved his joints a little. But just as the great adventurer was about to say something, the expression on his face suddenly changed. His eyes widened as he stared straight in a certain direction.
When Amber saw the situation, he instantly jumped up and slid to his knees towards Victoria …
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